Victorian Criminals and Villains
CRUEL CRIMINALS - VILE VILLAINS When Victoria was Queen the poor of Britain were crowded into dark, damp and filthy little houses. But some of these people liked the dark alley ways and dingy back lanes - the criminals. The slums were home to Whizzers, Van-draggers '''and '''Screws. Whizzers - Pick pockets Van-draggers - Horse-drawn van stealers Screws - House theives Could you cope. Well here's a word you would need to know to cope in Victorian streets ... Garrotter's would go behind their victim and press their fists on the victims wind pipe till they fainted. The victim would lose their voice and so would be unable to cry out. The garrotter would then steal any valuables. But a new anti garrotter device was invented in 1863 - The Leather Collar. PAINFUL PUNISHMENTS Of course, the villianous Victorians couldn't be allowed to get away with their vicious crimes. When they were caught they were punished ... and I mean PUNISHED. On January 3 1867, Thomas Beaumont, age 47 was arrested for garrotting and robbing Abraham Dickenson of Batley. His sentance: 5 years in prison, 24 lashes. He was first strapped to a triangle of wood. The officer then used a cat-of-nine-tails whip '- a whip with nine strands and with three hard knots at the end of each strand, to whip Tom. He took the first stroke in silence. After the second he cried out in pain and after the third he cried ''"oh dear me!" ''As the blows followed quickly his cries grew louder. After twelve strokes his back began to show marks. By the end of the lashing he was screaming for mercy. And you thought detention was bad? Did you know, throwing orange peel on the pavement was a crime? It cost one young man a 12p fine in 1873 - and it's still a crime today. PUTRID PRISONS Prisons were for more serious crimes than litter. Like murder. But were these Crimes fair? or foul? - In 1846 William Cleghorn killed Michael Riley in a boxing match and went to prison for 6 months. - In 1873 Thomas Clark sent a chimney sweep up a 30cm wide pipe where the boy suffocated. He too got six months. - In 1875 Isabella Reilly went to prison for 7 years for stealing a purse with £10 inside. She was 19 years old. She could have killed six boxers and six chimney sweeps and been out quicker! When convicts went to prison they didn't just sit around all day chatting, they had to do hard work - taking thick, rough, used ships' ropes apart and untwisting them to be used again. The work often made their fingers bleed. But convicts given ''hard labour' had even tougher jobs. Sometimes like breaking stones with a hammer, and sometimes they were given useless jobs just to exhast them. Jobs like moving cannonballs from one end of a room to another. One woman, Elizabeth Fry, led the fight to make 1800s prisons less cruel. She slowly made changes. Thanks to her there wer: - seperate prisons for men and women; - different punishments for serious and not-so-serious crimes; - useful work and training; - better food, warmth and clothing for all. All this and much more in Terry Deary's Vile Victorians - and - Villainous Victorians